From Political Surrogate Usage 101: Don’t send your surrogate out to attack someone for exactly the same thing he once did.
The Romney campaign did just that when they dispatched former Sen. JIm Talent (R-MO) to attack Rick Santorum’s budget-busting vote to add a Medicare prescription drug program in the Senate. The problem they quickly ran into was that Talent voted the same way.
In a call with reporters, Talent slammed Santorum for his Medicare Part D vote, calling it a “big expansion of a federal entitlement.” Asked by a reporter how he could criticize Santorum for taking the same position, Talent offered up only a general defense of his tenure in the Senate.
“I’d be happy, if I was running against Rick, to compare my record to his because I think it’s stronger in a whole lot of respects,” he said. “But he’s running against Governor Romney and the point is that Mitt Romney has a whole lot more comprehensively conservative record than Rick does.”
Medicare wasn’t the only awkward note for Talent. As the same reporter noted in the call, Talent also voted for a bill containing the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” earmark that the Romney campaign is going after Santorum on this week.
Talent’s biography also undercut other Romney supporters’ lines of attack in the same call. Missouri state auditor Tom Schweich slammed Santorum for influence peddling, for example, noting with pride that he would never work as a DC lobbyist.
“I spent two and a half years working for President Bush and then I went home,” Schweich said. “I got offers from K street and lobbying firms but I didn’t cash in.”
But Talent did, earning over $200,000 as a lobbyist for Washington firm Arent Fox. Kind of an awkward guy to have around on a call decrying the exact same behavior.
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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